Sunday, December 11, 2011

This Doesn't Work With That: Inconvenient Incompatible Parts

Park Tool TS-25 truing stand inside a small box. Would that work?

When I saw the concept of some parts that could be bolted on to my PCS-10 repair stand to enable it to also be used for truing wheels, I thought, cool! I got to try that. This small box showed up a few days later (AA rechargeable battery included for scale), and I tore it open to go and bolt it on.

Soon as I went over to the work stand, though, I saw a problem: the nifty #106 Work Tray that I had already bought and also attached to the stand would be in the way of any wheel truing operation. I hadn't seen any note, like "Please note: to use the TS-25 Truing Attachment on your PCS-10 work stand, you will have to temporarily remove the #106 work tray (if present), since This Doesn't Work With That." With bicycles in particular, though, this seems to be more often than not a matter of Insider Knowledge rather than explicit documentation. I always appreciate a footnote like "The Shimagnolo RIFE derailleur is not compatible with the Moon Tour Spexy brifter due to insufficient clearance with the cable cleaner-lubricator unit," but those are few and far between.

I appreciate the convenience of the #106 work tray. It holds small parts and tools very near to the work, to the extent that I use it just about every time I work on my bike. I had pictured using the tray while attempting to use the truing attachment to hold the axle during a bearing adjustment, since in my mind it looked like this axle holder might also work for that, too (perhaps with a spacer, I was willing to experiment). It all seemed to be coming together.

I tried some alternatives. The tray doesn't really seem to work on the other side of the pole. There is also a position at the top of the stand that will also accept the support prongs of the work tray; unfortunately, the tray still interferes with a wheel mounted for truing even up there.

True interference! Ten yard penalty!

In the end, I left the truing attachment on the stand, and just plan to remove the tray next time I want to use it. It seemed like just the thing for an easy truing when in the middle of other work. I have an actual truing stand, too, but due to storage and space limitations, that operation is often done in a separate area. I guess we'll see how it all shakes out once I get some more usage out of this, since any wheel that shows signs of being out of round will have to go on to the real truing stand anyway.

This will work, but the tray will have to come off to use the truing attachment.

It may be possible to leave both attached if I adjusted the moveable tube all the way up, but it seems like that would put that clamp about eight feet off the ground. Which would still make it a TDWWT situation to me. Some things like TDWWT incompatibilities just don't seem to pop out to me until I go to physically attach This (whatever it is) to That (whatever it is) and only then see that TDWWT! That is perhaps one of the key differences between a hack like me and a good, experienced, skilled mechanic or fabricator, who possess the ability to visualize What Works With What (WWWW) and how it all will go together before they actually put it all together. Fortunately, I seem to enjoy putting things together and taking them apart again. I get many opportunities to experience that enjoyment.

I see a Christmas tree in the background- does that mean that like me, you do bike work in the living room?

I would so love a place where I could leave my park stand up all the time, but it's not going to happen any time soon...

It's too bad that the tool tray can't just rotate 180 degrees..I'm still a bit unclear why you wouldn't just use a truing stand, but maybe that's because of the funky way I have to clamp up my step-through frame bikes wouldn't make it physically possible to true the wheels while the bike is on the stand with anything that was mounted on the stand itself.

Big Oak, it is indeed inconvenient to remove the tray, particularly when it's performing its function of holding small parts and tools.

limomaroni, why yes the are.

Steve, and a shed to set it up in...

cycler, it's a long story, but the tree had to be set up in the room with the fireplace, so that Santa could find it, you see. That also happens to the room with the bike stand and the bikes in it. Currently, there seems to be room for the stand and the Christmas tree in this room, but not for a bench to set up a truing stand on. That's the basic situation. There actually is a tool cart that does have a kind of table on top where a truing stand could sit, and I may end up just putting it there, although I found it nicer to true the wheels on an actual workbench, which just happens to be kind of far from the Christmas tree room where everything else is, and which doesn't have room for a bike stand near it. So that's why, basically.

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Thriving on two wheels

I commute by bicycle in Phoenix, Arizona, a place suited for riding bicycles of all types, with weather, mountains, roads, canals, and paths to keep me forever spinning. My favorite bike tools are an open mind, anger control, curiosity, compassion, common ground, and the search for knowledge. With coffee.

Dedicated to the Lost and Bold

Arizona 3 foot law ARS §28-735. Overtaking bicycles; civil penalties A. When overtaking and passing a bicycle proceeding in the same direction, a person driving a motor vehicle shall exercise due care by leaving a safe distance between the motor vehicle and the bicycle of not less than three feet until the motor vehicle is safely past the overtaken bicycle. B. If a person violates this section and the violation results in a collision causing: 1. Serious physical injury as defined in section 13-105 to another person, the violater is subject to a civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars. 2. Death to another person, the violater is subject to a civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars. C. Subsection B of this section does not apply to a bicyclist who is injured in a vehicular traffic lane when a designated bicycle lane or path is present and passable